Divine Impartiality

Divine Impartiality


Pastor’s Study
July 28, 2009
…holding forth the word of life (Philippians 2:16a)

Have you ever felt that you were not treated impartially, perhaps in a church conflict, a family dispute, an employment issue, or a legal matter? You perceive that your race, gender, socio-economic status, nationality, or some other factor influenced decisions made either for or against you. How did you feel? Perhaps, there was no recourse for justice. Did you long for vindication, for God to come and set things right?[1]

Of course, when we talk about impartiality, we are not disputing the need for special considerations or legal protections for the afflicted. Even in the Scriptures, God enjoins special regard for the widow, the orphan, the alien, and the poor. In Deuteronomy 27:19, for example, the Lord warns Israel not to distort “the justice due an alien, orphan, and widow.”

The Lord knows that we are prone to judge others based on unfair criteria. Sometimes, too, ulterior motives and selfish desires influence our decision-making. If, however, we are ever tempted to pervert justice, we should remember our Lord’s warning against the sin of partiality in James 2: 1-4, 9:
1My brethren, do not hold your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with an attitude of personal favoritism. 2For if a man comes into your assembly
with a gold ring and dressed in fine clothes, and there also comes in a poor man in
dirty clothes, 3and you pay special attention to the one who is wearing the fine
clothes, and say, "You sit here in a good place," and you say to the poor man, "You
stand over there, or sit down by my footstool," 4have you not made distinctions
among yourselves, and become judges with evil motives?... 9But if you show
partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors.

The apostle condemns this unjust and partial treatment of others as a violation of God’s law.

“There is no partiality with God,” however, as Paul asserts in Romans 2:11. In her book, Divine Impartiality, Jouette Bassler posits the view that Paul’s statement extolling God’s impartiality in Romans 2:11 is derived from an Old Testament formula in II Chronicles 19:7 – “there is no perversion of justice with the Lord our God, or partiality, or taking bribes” and in Deuteronomy 10:17 (“the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the terrible God, who is not partial and takes no bribes”).[2]

This divine impartiality is best demonstrated in God’s rescue of sinful humanity from the “domain of darkness” (Colossians 1:13), a theme that Paul stresses in Romans 1:16-17. Here, the apostle, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, emphasizes salvation to all who believe – Jew or Gentile (“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek,” Romans 1:16). In the Gospel, the saving justice of God is revealed, effecting eschatological restoration for Jew and Gentile. This divine activity is congruent with the Old Testament Scriptures where the just- by- faith (whether Jew or Gentile) are awarded life (17For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “BUT THE RIGHTEOUS man SHALL LIVE BY FAITH,” Romans 1:17; see Habakkuk 2:4). To demonstrate that there is no partial adjudication by God, both Jews and Gentiles are all under sin (“What then? Are we better than they? Not at all; for we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks are all under sin,” Romans 3:9). All are condemned by the law in order that every mouth be shut before God’s judgment bench (“Now we know that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who are under the Law, so that every mouth may be closed and all the world may become accountable to God,” Romans 3:19). All who believe are justified before God (3:21-31). Sin holds dominion over all in the sphere of death whereas grace holds dominion over all in the sphere of life (5:12-21). God has shut up all in disobedience that He might demonstrate His saving justice to all (“For God has shut up all in disobedience so that He may show mercy to all,” Romans 11:32).

In Romans 12-16, Paul wishes to provoke – by this humbling demonstration of God’s impartial judicial administration – an acceptance of all (that is, Jewish and Gentile believers) within the Church (12:2-3; 15:5-7).[3] Paul exhorts us:
5Now may the God who gives perseverance and encouragement grant you to be of the same mind with one another according to Christ
Jesus, 6so that with one accord you may with one voice glorify the God
and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. 7Therefore, accept one another, just
as Christ also accepted us to the glory of God (Romans 15:5-7).

We praise God who has demonstrated His covenant faithfulness to Israel by granting life at court to all the believing remnant (Romans 9-11) and, likewise, has manifested covenant fidelity to Gentiles who placed their trust in Him.[4] And as Paul urged us, may we learn to “accept one another, just as Christ also accepted us to the glory of God” (Romans 15:7).


[1]This longing is expressed at least 58 times throughout the Scriptures by prophet, psalmist, and other saints, usually with the question, “How long?”
[2] Jouette Bassler, Divine Impartiality: Paul and a Theological Axiom (Chicago: Scholars Press, 1982), 43.
[3] I am indebted to Alan Tomlinson for this survey. Tomlinson serves as professor of New Testament interpretation at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.
[4]Richard B. Hays, Echoes of Scripture in the Letters of Paul (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1989), 36-37.



No other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ (I Corinthians 3:11).

The Righteousness of God in Psalm 98

The Righteousness of God in Psalm 98

Pastor’s Study
July 15, 2009
…holding forth the word of life (Philippians 2:16a)

Psalm 98

1 Oh, sing to the LORD a new song!
For He has done marvelous things;
His right hand and His holy arm have gained Him the victory.
2 The LORD has made known His salvation;
His righteousness He has revealed in the sight of the nations.
3 He has remembered His mercy and His faithfulness to the house of Israel;
All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.

4 Shout joyfully to the LORD, all the earth;
Break forth in song, rejoice, and sing praises.
5 Sing to the LORD with the harp,
With the harp and the sound of a psalm,
6 With trumpets and the sound of a horn;
Shout joyfully before the LORD, the King.

7 Let the sea roar, and all its fullness,
The world and those who dwell in it;
8 Let the rivers clap their hands;
Let the hills be joyful together
9 before the LORD,
For He is coming to judge the earth.
With righteousness He shall judge the world,
And the peoples with equity.


Let us consider Psalm 98. In order to ascertain how the righteousness of God is used in Psalm 98, I will first analyze the text in order to determine the genre. This approach is based on the notion that the genre of a text and its meaning and purpose are inexorably linked.


Psalm 98 may be divided into three stanzas on the basis of content and time reference: (1) Praise Yahweh who has delivered Israel in the past (vv 1-3); (2) praise Yahweh who rules over the world in the present (vv 4-6); (3) praise Yahweh who will judge the universe in the future (vv 7-9).[1]


In stanza one, the writer celebrates Yahweh’s awesome deliverance of Israel in the past. The preponderance of divine warrior[2] imagery and language in this section provides the interpretative key to understanding the entire composition. References to the Lord’s “right hand” and “holy arm” suggest his military activity as is attested in other Old Testament passages.[3] The theme, “new song,” appears seven times in the Old Testament (Psalms 33:3; 40:3; 96:1; 98:1; 144:9; 149:1; Isaiah 42:10) and two times in the New Testament (Revelation 5:9; 14:3), always in a context of holy war.[4] The reference to Yahweh’s “salvation” has connotations of “victory in battle” (I Samuel 14:45).[5] Which victory is alluded to in this psalm, however, is doubtful. Many commentators, though, believe that the exodus is the salvific event referred to in stanza one.[6]


The psalmist, in the second stanza, extols Yahweh’s present sovereign reign over all the earth.[7] The Lord’s kingship is integrally related to his military activity. The celebration of Yahweh’s universal reign usually follows the successful conclusion of a holy war. In the Song of the Sea (Exodus 15), for example, the enduring kingship of Yahweh the warrior is extolled (vv 3, 18).[8]


In the final stanza, all of creation – in anticipation of Yahweh’s saving justice – is enjoined to praise the divine warrior who comes to vindicate His name. Yahweh’s eschatological vindication becomes the occasion for an ever-expanding doxology to the Lord, beginning with Israel in stanza one and continuing with “all the earth” in stanza two and with even the inanimate creation in stanza three. The implication is that Yahweh’s saving justice, beginning with Israel, extends to the nations (goyim) throughout the world and finally effects deliverance for the entire creation. The divine warrior, in effecting deliverance for his entire creation exercises his divine prerogative as Savior, King, and Judge.[9]


My brief analysis of Psalm 98 suggests that this psalm is an eschatological hymn that celebrates Yahweh’s victory over His enemies and the vindication of His name and His people.[10] In the momentous salvific act described in verse 9, the God of Israel comes to the whole world. Creation is transferred back to the power and grace of its Creator. Praise be to God!


No other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ (I Corinthians 3:11).


[1]Tremper Longman III, “Psalm 98: A Divine Warrior Victory Song,” Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 27.3 (September 1984): 268-69.
[2]The literature on the divine warrior motif is extensive, beginning with Schwally’s work in 1901. See Friedrich Schwally, Der Heilige Krieg im alten Israel (Leipzig: Dieterich’sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, Theodor Weicher, 1901).
[3]E.g., Exod 6:6; 15:6, 12, 16; Deut 4:34; 26:8; Pss 18:35; 21:8; 89:13; 118:15b-16; 138:7; Jer 21:5.
[4]Tremper Longman, III, “The Divine Warrior: The New Testament Use of an Old Testament Motif,” Westminster Theological Journal 44 (1982): 300-02.
[5]Alan Richardson, A Theological Word Book of the Bible (London: SCM Press, 1956), 219.
[6]Longman, “Psalm 98,” 269.
[7]See Longman, “Psalm 98,” 267-70; A. G. Herbert, “The Idea of Kingship in the OT,” Reformed Theological Review 18 (1959): 34-45.
[8]Longman, “Psalm 98,” 270.
[9]Ibid., 271.
[10]Hans-Joachim Kraus, Worship in Israel, trans. G. Buswell (Richmond: John Knox, 1966), 205ff.